Prior to Saturday’s spring training game against the Washington Nationals, manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed several more cuts. One of the most notable name not confirmed to be a cut was catcher Hayden Senger. With the injury to Francisco Alvarez, Senger is on track to make the New York Mets’ Opening Day roster. That is, if the team does not make any additional external addition between now and Thursday’s opener in Houston.
Off the back of that potential good news, Senger launched his first home run of spring training in the game’s seventh inning. The right-handed hitting catcher launched an 89 mph cutter 392 feet and 105.5 mph off the bat. The solo shot also notched the 27-year-old his first RBI of the spring as well.
Senger is not exactly known for his bat, as he owns a career .684 OPS. However, he is lauded for his defensive play, something that is always important for any backup catcher.
On the spring season, Senger now has a .174/.269/.348 slash line good for a .617 OPS. Last season, he spent the majority of the year playing for Triple-A Syracuse where he slashed .252/.323/.401 (.725 OPS) across 166 at-bats. Most notably, Senger had a 37% caught stealing rate; for context, the major-league average is usually around 30%.
If the projection of Senger making the big league roster on Opening Day does hold, it’ll be a nice story for a career minor leaguer. As has been well documented, Senger has spent some offseason working at a Whole Foods. Going from the grocery store to the big leagues is a terrific story in itself.
